Des Moines

First of all, if you see my husband reading this, please cause some kind of distraction -- fall to the floor clutching your heart, maybe? -- then snatch the paper from his hands. Now for my confession: For months, the presidential candidates stumped like madmen all over the country. They battled over Iraq, they clashed over the economy and tax breaks and unemployment and healthcare. I followed along, reporting from Des Moines and Detroit, Seattle and Scranton, Wausau and Wilkes-Barre.

Kenneth MacDonald, a former editor and publisher who led the Des Moines Register at a time when it won many Pulitzer Prizes, has died. He was 98. The newspaper reported that he died Thursday at a hospice in West Des Moines, where he had been recovering from a stroke. MacDonald worked for the Register and its afternoon sister paper, the Des Moines Tribune, for 50 years, retiring in 1977. The Tribune ceased publication in 1982. Under MacDonald, 12 staff members won Pulitzer Prizes.

Mary Elliott got the call for help on a Monday night. A "suicidal male teen" was at a convenience store, not far from his high school. When she arrived, Elliott -- a nurse on Des Moines' crisis response team -- found the young man still dressed in the suit he'd worn that day to the funeral of another teen who'd killed himself. He was relatively calm and, at first, denied that he was considering suicide.

Wells Fargo & Co. plans to hire 1,300 people at its home mortgage and consumer lending centers in Des Moines. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, the nation's largest home mortgage lender, scheduled a job fair to interview people for full- and part-time jobs. The jobs range from junior-level clerks to mid-level supervisors.

Seven of the nine Democratic presidential candidates muted their differences with each other and sharply criticized President Bush's record on the economy, health care, judicial appointments and homeland security at a town meeting here Saturday sponsored by a powerful union.

Forget Las Vegas. These days, Los Angeles would settle for being the Des Moines of convention cities. L.A. may be America's second city, but it's No. 22 in North America and trailing the Iowa capital (No. 21 on the latest list) when it comes to the number of small and large trade shows it attracts. Reno books more multi-day shows than does Los Angeles. So does Phoenix.

Born in Minneapolis, Gretchen Kogold, 20, moved to Des Moines with her father when her parents separated. But she left because he beat her, she said. While on her own, she was seriously hurt when a car hit her. Later, she became pregnant. Her 18-month-old son now lives with her mother in Minneapolis, and she sees him about twice a month. She is more stable now, but small things remind her of how her life is better. "You got your own keys," she said. "Room keys, a mailbox key. It feels good."

Bachelor farmer Dewey Byar never spoke much, although friends said he always loved his neighbors for buying his corn, livestock and hay in this southeastern Iowa river town. More than two years after dying of cancer, Byar's plan to return the favor is about to unfold in the form of a tax break for everyone in Des Moines County.

Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., a Los Angeles-based metals distributor, agreed to buy rival Pitt-Des Moines Inc.'s steel distribution business for an undisclosed price. Pitt-Des Moines has seven distribution centers in California, Nevada, Utah, Washington and Iowa that had sales last year of $216 million. Reliance Steel, which had sales of $1.73 billion last year, said the acquisition will increase its network to 87 distributors in 25 states. Reliance Steel's shares rose 35 cents to close at $28.

In your list of athletes killed in air crashes [Jan. 29], you left out one of the greatest athletes of all times: Rocky Marciano, who was killed on Aug. 31, 1969, in a small-plane crash near Des Moines. Rocky Marciano was one of the greatest fighters of all-time--and a soft-hearted man who often went out of his way to help friends. He was loved and respected by the men he fought and by those of us who knew him only by what we saw on television. CHARLES W. SMITH Los Alamitos